Survival Tips From a Doomsday Prepper
Today we are going to have a look at the prepper lifestyle. We’re going to head to central Texas, where a good friend of mine, John Stokes, a former technology writer lives. He started a tech Web site called ARS Technica.
He now helps run a Web site called theprepared.com. Obviously this COVID virus has kind of turned all of us into preppers, hoarding our food and toilet paper and everything else, and so we’re going to get some tips from a pro on how to live like a prepper and how to deal with this virus head on. So off we go see John Stokes and learn survival tips from a doomsday prepper.
Hello. Hello. Can you guys hear me Yeah man? I can hear you, but I can’t see your beautiful face. Started the video.
There you are. Got some Texas on the wall back there. Coming in hot man coming in strong, I like it. And also there’s, this wall, which has like axes and other tools on it. You guys going to be doing like video tutorials and stuff, right? And so you’re, gearing up to do some of that.
Yeah. That’s the plan. We’re gonna do some um, some lessons. That is quality. So yeah. I’m John Stokes.. I’m deputy editor at theprepared.com, and I was originally more of like a classic Boy Scout.
I was a life scout. I grew up in hurricane country. Gulf Coast, Louisiana. Knew what it was to bug out for a hurricane. Evacuate that kind of stuff.. So I was more along that vein. We sold ARS Technica in May of 2008.
And then, so I was kind of a newly minted investor, a member of the investing class. And then boom Lehman happens in September. The kind of one-two punch of the financial crisis and becoming a father. Those both tipped me over into a serious prepper territory.
And we see that a lot at the prepared. The first kid is a period when a lot of parents get into this. I kind of became aware that you know hey man, the world sort of runs on short term credit, and this is a weird vulnerability that I didn’t know existed. I didn’t know that if you couldn’t get short term credit, then there may not be groceries. There may not be clean municipal water stuff, like this., And so then you start thinking what are the other vulnerabilities, just like with the Great Depression.
There was a generation there that hoarded things., And that was you know it was thrifty.. It’s, going to leave its mark.. How did you approach getting into this whole world? You know I had started a outdoor Web site called alloutdoor.com for a friend of mine who had a company and an ad network., And they’re, like we want to make our own content site.. So I started this site for them.. Mostly, it was outdoor gear, hunting, shooting fishing, that kind of stuff.
And so I started rolling in the preparedness stuff. And the audience liked. It. And I just started writing about it and researching. As I wrote about it, I was fortunate in that the same people that owned that site also own survival, survivalistboards.com, and so I had a connection to the more traditional side of the survival community. There’s, a little difference between survivalists and preppers.. So I was a little more plugged into the survivalist side, but also some of the prepping stuff that started too.
Have you seen a ton of people a lot more new people coming to the site? Yeah there’s been a lot of interest.. We’ve, had a lot of new people sign up and join, and there’s still, maybe some residual stigma around the word prepper.
But in terms of the number of people that are engaging in what we would recognize. As now as prepper activities, that’s going to go through the roof and it’s going to stay elevated., This is the kind of medium term food supply.
There’s, some short term. Stop that’s, that’s in the refrigerators downstairs.. We bought an extra fridge.. We got a lot of canned food. That’s a barrel of rice.. I got a cheese wheel, actually got two cheese wheels and What kinds did you get Dutch Gouda cheese wheel like a 20 pound wheel.
And then I got like a sheep’s, milk, slash goat’s; milk blend cheese, wheel.. It’s, protein and fat in there., And it keeps for like 25 30 years., We’ve got batteries and a charging station.. So I do a lot of rechargeable batteries here.
That’s; kind of a little mini attic storage space that with air condition.. So that’s, where there’s, a lot of long term food., And so this was a playroom that we turned into like a little mini classrooms for the kids, because now they have to go from home.
Bunch of games behind me.. I’ve, gotten into board games for this. You know.. Can you prepare for a virus the same way as like a natural disaster, or something like that? We tried to start with a baseline of.
. You don’t, make any assumptions.. So when we look at the bug out bag, there’ll, be a lot of stuff in there. That’s of the nature of OK, I’m stuck out and there’s. No services., I’ve, got a clean, canteen here.
. This is a single walled, clean canteen.. It’s, not the double walled, because you can boil water in it. A tarp toilet paper, headlamp sleeping pad de trucks ration block.. This is a titanium pot.. There’s, a tinder strand in here, so you can light a fire with the stuff.
Contractor bags. Ranger bands of fasteners I’ve got a folding saw.. You want to start with a baseline of super core stuff. Having some lighting. Having ability to make a fire or having water having some food and then you tweak up from there and prepare for certain other kinds of emergencies.
. I think the thing to do is is to not get complacent and to be ready to take the next step.. I really have actually spent a lot of time the past two weeks, repacking these bags and making sure that we’re, actually ready to go.
. I’m looking into our home insurance.. Are we insured If I have to leave this property and come back and it’s? Trashed, Do I have everything documented? What What about documents? I’m, getting those together.
A will., So I am hoping for things to get better in the spring.. I’m, hoping for us to turn the corner and for us to go back to. To reopen society., But I don’t know what’s next., And so I’m spending.
My time as best I can. Preparing for an even worst case scenario. And they’d, be my general recommendation is: if you’ve got time. Whatever you can. Do you don’t have to do all the things.? Maybe you’re just exercising.
. Maybe you’re going around your apartment, your house and you’re, looking for. OK.. If I got up in the middle of the night and I had to leave because it was unsafe or for whatever reason, what am I going to take Put that stuff together.
, Do it Now. You got a minute, You can do it now.. The important thing is not to get too attached to any one thing. Not to get too attached to a piece of property to a piece of stuff. You don’t want to have that cloud.
Your judgment about what’s, the safest for you. Hope for the best., Keep prepared for the worst.. Well man. I appreciate you spending the time and giving us this advice.. I’m sorry.. It sort of took this thing for us to like see each other face to face.
Again. We got ta. Do this under happier circumstances Yeah, yeah yeah. Thank you so much. All right.. Thank you. Guys.. Today we are going to have a look at the prepper lifestyle. We’re gonna head to Central Texas, where a good friend of mine, John Stokes, a former technology writer lives.
He started a tech website called ARS technica. He now helps run a website called the prepared comm. Obviously, this this virus has kind of turned all of us into Preppers, hoarding our food and toilet paper and everything else, and so we’re gonna get some tips from a pro on how to live like a prepper and how to deal with This virus head-on so off we go to see John Stokes, hello, hello.
Can you guys hear me yeah man? I can hear you, but I can’t see your beautiful face. Yeah started the video. Thank you, some Texas, on the wall back coming in hot man coming in strong. I like it, this wall, which has like axes and other tools on it.
You guys gonna be doing like video, tutorials and stuff right and until you garan up some of that, that’s. The plan yeah we’re gonna, do some some lessons that is quality so yeah. I’m. John Stokes, I’m deputy editor at the prepared comm, and I was originally more of like a classic Boy Scout.
I was a life scalp. I grew up in hurricane country Gulf Coast Louisiana. I knew what it was to bug out for hurricane. You know evacuate that kind of stuff, so I was more along that vein. We sold Ars Technica in 2008 and May of 2008 and then so I was kind of a newly minted investor in a member of the investing class and then boom Lehman happens in September.
The kind of one-two punch of the financial crisis and becoming a father, those both tipped me over into into serious preparatory, and we see that a lot at the prepared. The first kid is period when a lot of parents get into this.
I kind of became aware that you know hey mad, the world sort of runs on short-term credit, and this is a weird vulnerability that I didn’t know existed. I didn ‘ T know that if you couldn’t get short-term credit, then there may not be groceries.
There may not be clean municipal water stuff like this, and so then you start thinking what are the other vulnerabilities just like with the Great Depression. There was a generation, there had hoarded things, and that was, you know, was thrifty.
It’s. Gon na leave its mark yeah. How did you approach getting into this whole world? You know I had started a outdoor website called all outdoor comm for a friend of mine who have a company and an ad network, and they’re, like we want to make our own content sites.
So I started this site for them. Mostly, it was outdoor gear, hunting, shooting fishing, that kind of stuff, and so I started rolling in the preparedness stuff and the audience liked it, and I just started writing about it and and research and as I wrote about it, I was fortunate in that the same People that owned that site also own survival, survivalist boards comm, and so I had a connection to the more traditional side of the survival community.
There’s, a little difference between survivalists and Preppers. So I was a little more plugged into the survivalist side, but also some of the prepping stuff as it started to it. Have you seen a ton of people a lot more new people coming to the site? Yeah there’s, been a lot of interest.
We’ve, had a lot of new people sign up and join, and there’s still, maybe some residual stigma around the word prepper, but in terms of the number of people that are engaging and what we would recognize this now, as Prepper activities that’s, gonna go through the roof and it’s.
Gon na stay elevated. This is the kind of medium term food supply there’s, some short term stuff. That’s. That’s in the refrigerators downstairs. We bought an extra fridge. We ‘ Ve got a lot of canned food.
That’s a barrel. Bryce I got a cheese wheel. I actually got to cheese wheels and what? What kind you get Dutch Gouda cheese wheel like a 20 pound wheel and then I got like a sheep’s: milk, /, goat’s; milk blend cheese wheel.
It’s, protein and fat in there, and it keeps for like 25-30 years we’ve got batteries and a charging station. So I do a lot of rechargeable batteries here that’s, a kind of a little mini attic storage air conditioned so that’s where there’s, a lot of long-term food, and so this was a playroom that we Turned into like a little mini classrooms for the kids, because now they have to go from home bunch of games behind me, I’ve gotten into board games for those you know.
Can you prepare for a virus the same way as like a natural disaster, or something like that? We try to start with a baseline of you. You don’t, make any assumptions. So when we look at the bug out bag, there’ll be a lot of stuff in there that’s of the nature of okay.
I’m stuck out and there’s, no services. I’ve got a clean canteen here. This is a single walled, Klean Kanteen it’s, not the double wall, because you can pull out water in it. A tarp toilet paper, headlamp sleeping pad day, trek trash and block.
This is a titanium pot. There’s, a tender stranded here, so you can light a fire with the straw contractor bags, Ranger bans and fasteners holding saw. You want to start with a baseline of super core stuff.
Having some lighting have an ability to make a fire or have a water, have it some food, and then you tweak up from there and and prepare for certain certain other kinds of emergencies. I I think the thing to do is is to not get complacent and to be ready to take the next step.
I really have actually spent a lot of time, the past two weeks repack and these bags and making sure that we’re, actually ready to go. I’m looking into our home insurance or we insured up have to leave this property and I come back and it’s.
Trash do have everything documented. What what about documents, and I’m getting those together a will. So I am hoping for things to get better in the spring. I’m, hoping for us to turn the corner and for us to go back to to reopen society.
But I don’t know what’s next, and so I’m. I’m spinning my time as best I can preparing for an even worse case scenario, and that’d, be my general recommendation. Is you’ve got time whatever you can? Do you don’t have to do all the things? Maybe you’re just exercising.
Maybe you’re going around your apartment, your house and you’re. Looking for okay, if I got off in the middle, then I had to leave because it was unsafe or for whatever reason, what am I gonna take put that stuff together.
Do it now you got a minute: you can do it now. The important thing is not to get too attached to any one thing: not to get too attached to a piece of property to a piece of stuff. You don’t want to have that cloud.
Your judgement about what’s, the safest, for you hope for the best keep preparing for the worst well man. I appreciate you spending the time and giving us this advice. I’m. Sorry, it sort of took this thing for us to like see each other face to face again.
Is we got to do this under happier circumstances but yeah? Thank you. So much all right. Thank you guys.
Thank you for reading about survival tips form a doomsday prepper.
